Web Hosting is a platform for hosting application or website for individuals and businesses to make it visible and accessible on the Internet or world wide web. A web host company provides a web hosting platform to host these files and make them available on the internet through their servers/computers.
Hosting a website means providing a space on the server which is connected with high speed, high-performance resources. For hosting the website and application, your website files like HTML code, image, video, and documents should be stored/hosted on the server.
The servers used to store your website is located, maintained and monitored in a data center, a data center is an infrastructure facility with the installed IT equipment like network cables, routers, switches, racks and power to keep your servers live 24/7/365. Data center usually refers to the facility that is used to house the servers. To maintain the data center facility there should be redundant or backup power supplies, robust network and environmental controls, i.e., air conditioning, security and alternate power backups against power failure.
Moving further when you have all the code files, images, document and data to make your application live you have to look for a web hosting package to host these data and file for making it online. An ideal web hosting package includes the complete server specification, configuration, bandwidth, support services along with the add-ons like backups, security audits, and many more services.
Types of Web Hosting
Generally, there are four main types of web hosting. While all these types of hosting packages act as a storage for your application or website but they differ in the capacity, control, technical knowledge, reliability, and security.
- Shared Hosting: In shared hosting, you will be hosting your website on the same server as many other sites. The resources like RAM, CPU, storage, and bandwidth are shared among all the website hosted on the same server. The cost of hosting on a shared server is extremely low, and this hosting is suitable for those websites which have low traffic. This type of hosting is an ideal entry-level hosting solution.
- VPS Hosting: A virtual private server hosting divides a dedicated server into many virtual servers, where each virtual server acts as a dedicated server. You will have more power and control over the resources and can have root access for the server. The VPS server is more secure as compared to the shared hosting server. VPS hosting is ideal for those business and website that require more control at the server level and have a limited hosting budget.
- Dedicated Server: A dedicated server has its own control over the server resources like RAM, CPU, Storage, and bandwidth. All the server resources belong dedicatedly to your website or application which you host on your server. All the resources belong to your website only; there are no other website or applications hosted on your server. This type of hosting is ideal for those websites and applications that have huge requirement of resources and expects higher traffic on their website. This type of hosting is costly as compared to VPS Hosting.
- Cloud Hosting: Cloud hosting offers unlimited ability to handle traffic and sudden load spikes. Cloud consists of n- numbers of servers, and they all work together to host your website. This allows multiple to manage the heavy traffic for any particular traffic.
Once you have finalized on the type of hosting, you require to find a perfect host and check with them on the below- mentioned essential factors
- Backups
- Disaster Recovery
- Support Services
- Server Scalability
- Security Auditing and reports
- Managed and unmanaged services
- Root Access
- Service Level Agreement
- Datacenter
After selecting the appropriate web hosting package, You have to manage your domain with the help of your web hosting provider. A domain is a name that you choose for your website to be recognized by the world through internet. Your web hosting provider will be assisting you by pointing your domain and associated records to the correct DNS (Domain name server) and start hosting your website with technical support and assistance you require.